one but Lord H----
should learn his private sentiments), "_but I never had much opinion of
that officer!_"

Poor General P---- loved and reverenced his military chief, as all
soldiers must. Those words so singularly presented to his eyes, wounded
him deeply. He was at the time suffering from low fever; they completed
its work, making an impression on his mind no arguments could remove. He
obeyed the orders given; held a court-martial; tried the offenders;
dismissed them from the service; and then, taking to his bed, sank
rapidly, and died before the next post from England could reach the
island. He never waited for another!

And now I approach another reminiscence of this common human anxiety, of
which I can not think without deep emotion. We had a young cousin, a
fine lad full of spirit and ardor, a midshipman in the royal navy, who
was our especial pride and delight. We had no brother, but he supplied
the want to us, being, as a child, our constant playmate--as a youth,
our merriest and best-loved correspondent. How full of fun, quaint
humor, and droll adventures were his letters, and how we used to long
for them, especially for that which proclaimed his arrival in the
English seas! The period for receiving such an announcement had arrived,
for his ship had entered Plymouth harbor; and I can never forget how
eagerly I used to wait for the postman, how restlessly I watched him at
an opposite door, and how I hated the servant for delaying him by a
tardy attention to his knock! No letter came, however; day after day,
hour after hour passed, and disappointment became uneasiness, and alarm
so terrible, that even the sad certainty was at last a relief.

He never wrote again. He had perished in Tampier Bay, and his death had
been one of many instances of unrecorded but undoubted heroism. The
weather was stormy, but it was necessary to send a boat on shore, and
Charles had good-naturedly offered to take the duty of being its officer
in the stead of a young and delicate messmate who had been ordered on
the service. It upset in the surf: two men and our poor cousin clung to
its keel for some minutes; at length it became apparent that one must
let go his hold, or all would perish. Both the seamen were married men,
and uttered their natural regret at leaving their children fatherless.
The gallant youth (as they afterward reported when picked up) observed,
"Then my life is less precious than yours. My poor mother, God bless
yo